So
I would like to play as a Necromancer
A Necromancer who will eventually be able to raise 168 skeletons from . . . wherever
The thing is, that's a lot of dice rolls and a lot of stats to keep track of
So
Has anyone got any idea as to how I could better manage this without making it too boring for other players?
Maybe some way I could set up Macros on my phone to emulate mass Dice rolling or maybe some software that I could use to keep track of skeleton stats?
Thank You
You've identified the key strategy: roll lots of dice concurrently. Assuming that your DM is willing to let the skeletons act somewhat en masse instead of him roleplaying them all individually with their own initiatives and action declarations every round, all you really need to do to resolve attacks for N skeletons is:
(1) Roll N dice.
(2)
Compute your target number by subtracting the enemy's AC from your THAC0... Ahem! I mean, by subtracting your to-hit bonus (+4) from the enemy's AC (e.g. 16, means 12 is your target number).
(3) Count up all the dice that are at or above your target number, and also keep a count of how many crits. E.g. 20 hits, two of them crits.
(4) If the attacks are at disadvantage, scoop up those dice and roll them again, and count how many of
those still exceed the target number.
(5) Either take average damage if the DM allows it, or roll e.g. 22d8+40 for 20 hits, 2 crits.
It's not really any more complicated than a Fireball that hits a hundred orcs: roll 100 saves, then roll damage.
There's nothing wrong with writing a little app, or using someone else's. E.g. if you go here (
http://maxwilson.github.io/RollWeb/Roll/index.html) and type in
100.12?d6+6, if will roll 100 d20s and for every 12+, it will roll d6+6 for damage and add them up (e.g. 446). It will also double damage to 2d6+6 for crits. If you click on the "Explain" button it will show you the actual rolls.
HP tracking is kind of a pain, but I can't give you generalized advice because it's DM-dependent. Some DMs might be perfectly fine with tracking skeleton HP at a giant pool of 4000 HP or whatever and just having every 40 HP of damage kill a skeleton--that's technically a little bit harsh on the Necromancer because in reality doing 10 damage to 4 separate skeletons doesn't actually take any of the skeletons out of the fight yet, but if the Necromancer is okay with it and the DM is okay with it it can work fine. I guess you could see if your DM is willing to go for that, or if he really wants you to track them separately.
A word to the wise: once you start accumulating funds and high-level spell slots, there are much better minions available than skeletons, even skeletons supercharged by the Necromancer's Undead Thrall feature. 10 Air Elementals and 50 long-term Mass Suggestion'ed ("Join my mercenary army and work for me!") + permanently Geased (for the Charm effect, so they can't attack you even if Mass Suggestion doesn't prevent them) super-Wights (thanks to Undead Thrall, both their sword and bow attacks get stronger) are tougher, more mobile, and less unwieldy than a hundred skeletons. For one thing, you don't need to babysit them every day by constantly re-casting Animate Dead on them, so you actually get to
use your spell slots in conjunction with your elementals and super-Wights.
Also BTW you should definitely consider up-armoring your zombies/skeletons/wights and giving them new weapons. Scale-mailed skeletons wielding either longbows/heavy crossbows or dual short swords are where it's at. Ditto for wights. For zombies, chain mail and greatsword is a pretty cheap and effective combination.
Also, detail some minions to either Help other PCs attack, scatter caltrops around the battlefield, or throw Nets to restrain enemies.
